


Budget Meeting

by Zephyrfox



Series: Real Legend [4]
Category: GoldenEye (1995), James Bond (Classic movies), James Bond (Craig movies), Legends (2014)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, For other characters, Mallory is having a bad morning, No angst!, Only mentions of angsty stuff?, Some Humor, These characters are actually fairly well adjusted, Well - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 11:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9180529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zephyrfox/pseuds/Zephyrfox
Summary: After Alec Trevelyan’s return, Mallory’s next budget meeting takes a turn into oh shit! territory. Double O’s have ways to ensure their own are taken care of. Or, Mallory needs to learn to stop asking questions he'd really rather not know the answers to.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year!
> 
> This is an outtake of Real Legend (Last two chapters Coming Soon!). It didn't fit there because of the pacing, so I pulled it out and expanded it. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (I'm still working on Christmas Panic, too. It was supposed to be a light, fluffy Christmas piece, but it veered into angst and plot. I'll have it posted soon. Theoretically.)

 

Penda Stone, 008 of Her Majesty’s Secret Service, looked up from her desk when she heard the faint scratch of a key turning in the front door’s lock. One hand drifted down, sliding open the top drawer next to her. She pulled out the gun kept there as the door opened. She stood, checked that the gun was loaded and ready to fire, then moved silently to the door of the office. 

“Pen, I’m home!” A woman’s voice sang out as the front door of the flat closed. “You will not  _ believe _ the meeting today!”

Penda relaxed and flipped the safety back on. She slipped back to her desk and sat, replacing the gun and sliding the drawer shut. “I’m in here, love!” She smiled. Whatever had happened had been good — her wife was chuckling. 

Ksenia Stone entered the room, her face wreathed in smiles, and tossed her coat onto the couch. 

She got up from her desk to meet her love in the middle of the room. “Well, hello there, gorgeous.” She tucked Ksenia close, bending down to give her a welcome home kiss. 

“Hmmm.” She drew back, noting Kissa’s bright grey eyes and happy expression. “What's got you so excited, and why isn't it me?” She finished with a mock growl. 

Ksenia threw her head back and laughed. 

Pen grinned back. She loved to see her Kissa happy. 

“C’mon, let's go sit down, I have lots to tell you,” Ksenia paused, darting a glance at the desk. “Unless you're busy?”

“I've always got time for you.” Which wasn't as true as she’d like it to be, but duty always came first. She was lucky her wife understood duty. 

Ksenia shoved the coat out of their way, rolling her eyes when she caught Pen’s look of disapproval. “I'll put it up later, I promise.”

She couldn't help the skeptical, “Mmmhmm.” She loved the woman, but Ksenia and tidy were worlds apart. 

“I said I would,” Ksenia huffed. “Now, do you want to hear this or not?”

She had to admit that she was dying of curiosity. Quarterly budget meetings were usually deadly dull. “Yeah, go ahead.”

They curled up together, cuddling on the couch as they usually did. One of Ksenia’s cats, Taraji, was lounging indolently along the back of the couch. 

Pen craned her head, looking for the other little troublemaker. She spotted Alexavier sitting on top of the bookshelf. 

She jumped as something poked her in the side, and looked down at the woman in her arms. 

“Eyes on me, not the furred ones,” Ksenia said. 

“You have my full attention,” Pen said, giving her a squeeze. “Now, talk. What happened?”

 

~*~

 

Ksenia followed her boss into the conference room. Amelia preferred to be seated and ready for a meeting to begin before others arrived, so they were alone in the room.

She took the seat to Amelia’s left, and handed the meeting agenda over. Then she began sorting the folders she carried into orderly stacks in front of her. 

Amelia asked a few questions while reading the agenda, to ensure she had the most recent information.

They both looked up as the door opened. 

“Good morning, Miss Emerson-Saunders, Miss Stone,” M said briskly as he strode into the room, with his Chief of Staff and secretary close on his heels.

Amelia’s lips pursed in annoyance.  _ “Mrs _ Emerson-Saunders,  _ if _ you please, Mr Mallory. And I believe you know that my Chief of Staff is a married woman as well.”

Irritation flickered across M’s face before he schooled his expression into a arrogantly indifferent mask. He pulled his chair from the table with a little more force than necessary and sat.

Ksenia hid a smile as she nodded to Miss Moneypenny and Mr Tanner when they took their seats at the table.

As the Finance department Chief of Staff, Ksenia normally kept to the background during budget meetings with Mallory, just making sure that her chief had all the information she needed should he have questions about any of the items that were discussed. 

This meeting was no different from the rest — until M came to one particular set of line items. 

“What's this?” M looked up, focusing on the Finance chief. “Full duty pay for Trevelyan, hazardous duty pay, medical leave pay,  _ and _ back pay?”

“Yes,” Amelia stated, head up and looking M squarely in the eye. “The next item —”

M cut her off with an angry swipe of his hand. “Who authorized this?”

Ksenia leafed through the folders in the stack in front of her, handing the requisite folder to her chief. 

As Amelia looked through the forms, M appeared ever more impatient and furious. 

Ksenia kept her amusement to herself. Amelia Louise Emerson-Saunders had been the previous M’s chief of finance for years, and brooked no nonsense — especially, Ksenia knew, from someone she considered an upstart.

Amelia finally looked up with a slight smile curving her lips. “It appears to be your signature, Mr Mallory.” 

Before M could explode, Miss Moneypenny deftly acquired the folder and passed it to Mr Tanner. 

“She's quite correct, sir, it does seem to have your authorization.” Tanner said, while Moneypenny winked surreptitiously at Ksenia. 

She hastily looked down to hide her grin, flushing slightly. 

“Let me see that.” M snatched the folder from his Chief of Staff and spluttered for a bit. Everyone in the room ignored him. 

Finally, M looked up from the folder, face set. “I think we can all agree that I did not, in fact, authorize this expenditure. There's no reason for all these payments to Trevelyan. Stop them at once.”

Amelia shook her head.  “If you think that, you might want to think again.”

“I can have you fired for gross negligence,” M shot back.

Ksenia darted a glance at Amelia, alarmed. 

Amelia simply sat back in her chair and raised a brow at Tanner, as if saying, “The ball’s in your court.”

Tanner coughed discreetly.  “She is correct, sir, you might want to reconsider.”

“Why should I?” M glared at his Chief of Staff. 

“Two words, sir,” Miss Moneypenny interjected. “Bond, and Quartermaster. “

M transferred his frown to her. “Explain.”

“This has Q’s fingerprints all over it.” Moneypenny shrugged as if she were stating the obvious. 

Tanner nodded. “Bond is perfectly capable of going rogue, and taking Q and Trevelyan with him.”

Moneypenny tilted her head. “No one wants that, do they sir?”

“Christ.” M sat back, staring at his staff in dawning horror. “Well, for the safety and protection of the realm…”

 

~*~

 

Penda smirked. Good. She held Kissa closer, nuzzling into her wife’s hair. It was vibrant purple this week. 

The funny thing was, she knew that it wasn't Q that had manipulated the budget. It was her wife, acting for the Double O’s. They all felt guilty for not looking into Trevelyan’s death. 

Although, to be fair, there were other things going on in the world at the time, including Bond going completely off the rails in his grief. 

She had seen first hand some of the damaging consequences of that grief. It had been before she made Double O, and she was convinced that her actions that day had caused M to promote her. 

One of her fellow trainees was bragging about the chance to get promoted while the rest teased him. None of them had noticed Bond drifting through the corridors like a ghost — until he was in their midst, beating the crap out of Simmons. 

She'd been the team medic for their exercise, and still had her kit. While her fellows attempted to pull Bond off Simmons, she dug through it to find the sedative, and leaped into the fray. 

One jab with the needle later, and they were able to pull Bond off the man he was attempting to  pummel to death. 

No one would accept promotion to the vacant 006 slot after that.

A few months later, the 008 slot became open again. No one had been able to hold that designation for long since Tanner had been forced to give it up for medical reasons. She’d only just started dating Ksenia at the time. Her poor Kissa had been happy and terrified for her as she accepted the promotion.

“Pen?” Ksenia looked up at her with a shadow of concern in her eyes.

“Nothing, baby. You did great. I’m so proud of you.”

Ksenia beamed, leaning up to capture her lips for a kiss.

She smiled, pulling Kissa closer, and deepened the kiss. Sometimes things worked out for the best.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I love reviews, comments, and any other sort of communication. Feel free to stop in to say hi. You can find me on tumblr at leavesdancing.tumblr.com.


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